Conveyor systems are employed to transport a wide variety of products, containers, vessels, and items of all shapes and sizes. The movement of each differently sized and configured product presents its own unique challenges, including the challenge of maintaining the integrity of the conveying system by ensuring that products remain in their originally placed, upright positions. Products which tend to tip and fall over while being moved along a conveyor present significant problems, not the least of which is the disruption of the product conveying process from the point of the product failure, down to the discharge destination, and back up to the upstream supply station.
The challenge which is faced in conveying small, lightweight articles on the conveyor systems which are currently commercially available is even greater. Such products are highly susceptible to toppling over, not only because of their lightweight, but also because their minute dimensions make them more apt to falling when they encounter the gaps or interstices inherently located within the conveyor lanes of the systems designed to move these items. For instance, glass vial vessels, 0.46 inches in diameter and 1.259 inches in height, commonly used in the pharmaceutical industry, must be transported en masse on smaller conveyor systems. However, the minute dimensions of these items create problems in maintaining the integrity of such systems. When even a single vial, upon encountering an interstice in a conveyor lane, is caused to fall from its upright position, significant difficulties result. The failure of one vial will cause toppling of numerous vials, which in turn causes extreme disruption of the overall product transport system. Expensive and wasteful downtime is the result.